Yeah, it has a lot of non-characters but Sakurai has stated that he deliberately keeps the Kirby characters lower than the other main franchises so as to not seem biased.
And then Meta Knight was the most OP thing in the entire franchise. Boy howdy he sure did an ace job avoiding bias huh?
Splatoon launched on a "Long dead console?"
Popularity aside, there is one major problem the Metroid series has for Smash, Samus is pretty much the only character IN the games (To my knowledge anyway, everyone else is in backstory or the rare mission control). Prime corruption tried to work on that, but IMO that part didn't work. So other than armor and zero Samus there isn't much to draw from for fighters, especially since Ridly apparently isn't happening.
edited 2nd Nov '15 5:29:56 PM by BlitzTrain
I'd argue Dark Samus could represent Prime (specifically Prime 3) in the same manner that Rosalina represents the Mario Galaxy games, but that's another Samus now. Isn't it?
...I know, we could have Fusion Suit Samus.
🏳️⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse AlberiaIf anything I think we'll just get Sylux next game. Can't remember where from now but I remember someone high up on the Nintendo ladder saying they want to push Sylux as a rival for Samus going forward.
I'd prefer Dark Samus myself.
Also for the record Bandanna Dee (and Magolar for that matter) is a really popular ballot request in Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if he got in, given multiple characters from the ballot.
edited 2nd Nov '15 5:39:31 PM by ConstipatedWaffle
"And kung fu is a terrible way to run a company" - alliteratorHow would Bandana Dee function? His first appearance was as a Joke Boss and all he has to fight with is his spear.
Return to Dreamland already gives him plenty of moves that could be translated into Smash. He has
A possible side special (throwing the spear)
A recovery (spinning the spear)
A multi-hit jab (the basic spear combo)
A D-Air (a stall-and-fall attack like Greninja and Toon Link's D-Air)
I'm sure they can fill in the rest.
edited 2nd Nov '15 6:00:03 PM by FullMoon
Sylux is Sylux.The few times they've stooped to pronouns, they've called Sylux "it".
Between that and how positively wasp-waisted the character design is, I think Retro's plan was to pull a Samus Is a Girl all over again.
Regardless, yeah, Sylux would be interesting if it ever manages another appearance.
edited 2nd Nov '15 8:42:41 PM by Pulse
I sure said that!Ridley isn't being considered because of a damn meme. Welp, guess that's what a kilogram and a half monkey brain accounts for in the end.
Dark Samus it is, as the third most consistent recurring character in the franchise. And Prime representation, as much as they like to pretend it didn't happen, they were better than Other M.
That's still pretty good, considering how many of franchises Nintendo has rarely, if ever, manages to have games selling a million copies.
Heck, I was a little surprised when I first knew that the first two GS games each sold a million copies, considering it's not exactly Mario or Pokemon.

Isn't it more popular in the West than it is in Japan?
Weird, because Samus is one of the most iconic video game characters.
Admittedly, all of my friends (who aren't as big into Nintendo as I) call Ridley "The Dragon". They also call the Yellow Devil "Blob Monster".
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!